Primera Hora reported that Ramón “Moncho” Salgado was found dead along the side of a highway in Humacao on the island’s eastern coast. Thomas J. Bryan Picó, executive director of la Fundación Gaviota, told the newspaper that Salgado was a 46-year-old gay man who lived in Humacao. “Primera Hora” reported that Salgado’s body showed signs of blunt trauma.

Bryan pointed out that Salgado is the third LGBT Puerto Rican who has been found dead in 72 hours. As EDGE reported late Monday, June 6, a transgender woman was found shot to death in a Santurce intersection. Karlota Gómez Sánchez’s body was discovered roughly 48 hours after Alejandro Torres Torres was found stabbed to death in Ponce.

At least 18 LGBT indviduals have been killed in Puerto Rico in the past 18 months, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which released this statement from Communications Manager and Puerto Rico Para Tod@s founder Pedro Julio Serrano:

"The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force stands in solidarity with the LGBT community in Puerto Rico and sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of Karlota Gómez Sánchez, Ramón Salgado and Alejandro Torres Torres. As someone who grew up in Puerto Rico and has been very active in its LGBT community, this is a heart-wrenching moment. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to all of the victims’ loved ones at this difficult time. Justice must prevail. This is about members of the Puerto Rican LGBT community feeling safe in their communities and being able to take care of the ones they love. We call upon the authorities and political leaders to effectively address this epidemic of anti-LGBT violence. This must stop now."

In June 2010, the Commonwealth's attorney general announced the creation of a special commission to investigate hate crimes. To date, Puerto Rico's Republican Gov. Luis Fortuño, who resisted efforts to prosecute the López case a hate crime, has yet to publicly comment on that or any other anti-LGBT hate crime. But the conservative anti-gay governor has called for a constitutional marriage ban against same-sex marriage.

"The example of Ricky Martin as citizen of the world, humanitarian, father, intelligent person, is a good example for those who have obvious stereotypes and also for those who don't have prejudice but have ideas that may act as barriers in the lives of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT)," said Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). "Ideas like 'a gay man is good to water my flowers at home but not for business' limit the opportunities for the LGBT community."

Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manager of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, says that "when Ricky made the announcement the tectonic plates moved, it was almost like an earthquake. ... It was one of the most important news in the fight for equality that the Latino LGBT community leads. It touches the hearts and opens the minds of many people," said Serrano, who became a friend of the artist after his announcement. ...

"If in Puerto Rico people used to love him, now they love him even more," said Serrano, who recounted that during Martin's first public appearance post-announcement, in April at the Latin Billboard Awards, the singer not only received a standing ovation in the theater but a multitudinous cheer from the people on the streets. "That says a lot about the welcoming and I think demonstrates the reality of our society," he said. "Even though we still have to fight a lot of homophobia, there is much more acceptance today."

And this very touching personal story:

Ricardo Torres, a Mexican man who was raised in Texas and lives in Chicago, was in the audience when Oprah Winfrey interviewed Martin last year. He thanked Martin, saying that his revelation was good for his own relationship with his mother. "For the first time my mother asked me personal questions. For almost 20 years she has known that I am gay but she never asked anything ... she told me not to tell anyone else in my family. It was a secret ... a big taboo," Torres, 38, told the AP. "Everything changed after Ricky came out of the closet," he added. "Like someone in our family came out and by doing so gave us the right to live more openly."

"I spent many months figuring out the best way to do it. I thought it could be a song, or an interview, or in the book," he says, "But I couldn't wait eight more months. I needed to do this, now. Several months before I pressed send, there was a hate crime in Puerto Rico against a gay boy. And at the time, if I had spoken out, people would have started conjecturing."

He adds "There are moments of great tension in the book because I was living under great tension. And one Friday, I called my manager and said, I'm doing this on Monday. I spent the entire weekend drafting that letter. And when I sent it, I felt such a relief, such peace and joy. I thought, My God, had I known, I would have done this 10 years ago."

It's beautiful that Ricky has found his own way and decided to live his life more openly. And become an inspiration to many others. Bravo.

Ricky Martin's autobiography Me was a New York Times best-seller and its Spanish edition Yo was the No. 1 biography in the United States. Música + Alma + Sexo dropped last Tuesday and the single "Lo Mejor De Mi Vida Eres Tu" is No. 1 on Billboard Top Latin Songs.

After this and a series of violent murders of gay men and transgender women in Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth's attorney general announced the creation of a special commission to investigate hate crimes. To date, Puerto
Rico's Republican Gov. Luis Fortuño, who resisted efforts to prosecute the López case a hate crime, has yet to publicly
comment on that or any other anti-LGBT hate crime. The conservative anti-gay
governor has
called for a constitutional marriage ban
against same-sex marriage, though.

"'I think this is a step in the right direction to start to collect
statistics that are vital to curb the crisis of violence against the gay
community in Puerto Rico,' said Pedro Julio Serrano, a native of the
U.S. territory and spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. Serrano said 25 slayings of gay and transgender people in
the past eight years may have been motivated by bias — including the
decapitation in November of gay teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, whose
killing inspired vigils as far away as New York and Chicago.

The
new government committee involves agencies including the U.S. Attorney's
Office in San Juan, police officials and the island's civil rights
commission, according to a statement release by the attorney general
late Friday. 'With the creation of this committee, we will
document the extent of hate crimes,' said Attorney General Guillermo
Somoza Colombani, who added that the data will help develop policies to
attend to the victims."

To date, Puerto
Rico's Republican Gov. Luis Fortuño, who resisted efforts to prosecute the López case a hate crime, has yet to publicly
comment on that or any other anti-LGBT hate crime. The conservative anti-gay
governor has
called for a constitutional marriage ban
against same-sex marriage, though.

Myriam Mercado—who has previously spoken eloquently about her son's death—and husband Jorge López were relieved they were spared a trial. "We can grab a little bit of peace in that respect, although it will never bring Steven back to me," says the mother, in a translation provided by Andrés Duque. "At the very least, there is justice in Puerto Rico."

The father expressed forgiveness towards his son's murderer. "Even to the adulterer woman, God said , 'Go and don't do it again. He did not look at her sins. And God forgives."

"Martínez had been scheduled to go
on trial for Jorge Steven López Mercado’s death on Monday, May 17,
confessed to the crime during a hearing in Caguas on Wednesday, May 12. Martínez
told the court he understood the consequences of his actions, and Judge
Miriam Camila Jusino immediately sentenced him to 99 years in prison.Primera Hora reported López’s parents,
Myriam Mercado and Jorge López, hugged prosecutor Yaritza Carrasquillo
after the hearing. Mercado told the newspaper, however, Martínez’s
confession was bittersweet for her and her family. 'We are able
to find a bit of peace in this aspect, but it still not going to return
Steven,' she said. 'But at least there is justice in Puerto Rico.'"

Martínez has confessed
to killing López in what is described as "gay
panic". Police say Martínez confessed to stabbing, decapitating,
dismembering and partially burning the teen’s body before dumping it
roadside near Cayey.

On Thanksgiving Eve,
thousands marched through San Juan to hold a candlelight vigil for
the
slain teen. The crowd demanded authorities investigate the case as an
anti-gay hate crime. Similar vigils were held in New
York and Chicago.

Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Lesbian & Gay
Task Force, who was in Caguas when Martínez
plead guilty , tells
EDGE it brings some closure. "But those wounds will never heal. And
we just have to work to
ensure this does not happen again."

To date, Puerto
Rico's Republican Gov. Luis Fortuño, who resisted
efforts to prosecute the case a hate crime, has yet to publicly
comment on the López case. On the other hand, the conservative anti-gay governor has called for a constitutional marriage ban
against same-sex marriage. Priorities, priorities.

03 May 2010

"@PJ_Serrano: kid thanks to you for all you do for Puerto Rico and for
the community. Strength and always push forward" [Serrano] said that he'd noticed Ricky Martin had added him to his Twitter feed and could hardly believe it. So he sent the singer a message telling him how proud he was of him and, in response, Ricky posted the message.

You may recall that PJ Serrano lead the charge against ugly anti-gay slurs describing Martin's that were broadcast on Puerto Rican television. Adds Duque: "I often wondered if Ricky Martin was paying attention to Pedro Julio's
efforts to fight the homophobic comments that his coming out had
elicited on Spanish-language media and, if he was, whether he approved
or saw it as a side-show. Now we have the answer. "

26 April 2010

The body of Ashley Santiago Ocasio, a 31-year-old transgender woman, was discovered in a bloody crime scene at her home outside San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 19. The island's LGBT community believes this could be a hate crime and are concerned authorities are not fully investigating the murder, reports the Washington Post.

The case has grabbed headlines and renewed complaints that Puerto Rico
has never invoked a 2002 hate crime law covering crimes based on sexual
orientation or gender identity. In the last five months alone, there have been five instances where the
statute could have been used, said Pedro Julio Serrano, a spokesman for
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The law is very clear and we're asking authorities to investigate
without prejudice," Serrano said. The grisly scene at Santiago's home raised suspicion that she may have
been targeted because of her gender identity.

Santiago was shot in the head but "there
was so much blood spattered" that police
initially reported Santiago had been repeatedly stabbed .

14 April 2010

Six New York City officials, including all four current openly gay city councilmembers, sent a letter (PDF) to the Federal Communications Commission asking for an investigation of recent, homophobic language on the Puerto Rican television show Super Xclusivo broadcast on WAPA América. The crude comments focused on pop star Ricky Martin's coming out, the gay community and Puerto Rican LGBT activist and NGLTF spokesman Pedro Julio Serrano.

Immediately after ... Martin came out, Héctor
Travieso, the host of the show who uses a puppet as a bantering
partner, repeatedly used the word "pato" (fag) to refer to the
singer. When viewers, including Puerto Rican LGBT rights activist Pedro
Julio Serrano, complained, he only upped the ante and defended his
usage of the word arguing that there was nothing bad in calling someone a
"pato".

The furor elicited by his comments, and by references he later made
against Serrano's HIV status and sexuality has kept the
confrontation between Travieso and Serrano in the island newspapers'
front pages. Travieso, who also was the host of a radio show, announced on Thursday
that he would retire from that spot. He also extended a semi-apology to
Serrano and the LGBT community in an
interview that ran yesterday on Primera Hora. No, he did not
apologize for using the word "pato". He only apologized for referring
to the LGBT community as "gentuza", which could be translated as "riffraff", "trashy people" or 'worthless people." "I accept his apologies, but those apologies have to come accompanied by
a change in his behavior," said Serrano to the paper, "He has to stop
the homophobic conduct and stop making fun of the gay community."

The letter is signed by Congresswoman
Nydia M. Velázquez, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Council
members Danny Dromm, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Rosie Mendez, and Jimmy Van
Bramer. Quinn, Dromm, Mendez, and Van Bramer are openly gay.

The letter (PDF) to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reads in part: "While
we respect freedom of speech, using anti-gay language in this context
crosses the line and puts the public welfare at risk. New York and
Puerto Rico have both been affected by a number
of high-profile hate crimes in recent months. It is imperative to
stand up against language that can contribute to bigotry." Read the
full letter HERE.